Today we announced that we are changing our name from Wal-Mart Stores to Walmart. Why the change? Because of our growing presence as a retailer who serves customers no matter how they choose to shop.

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Today we announced that we are changing our name from Wal-Mart Stores to Walmart. Why the change? Because of our growing presence as a retailer who serves customers no matter how they choose to shop.

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Most of us, and I’d guess all our customers, refer to our company as Walmart and still will. Changing our corporate name from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., to Walmart Inc. is just a symbol of how customers are shopping us today and how they’ll increasingly shop us in the future. Whether it’s in our stores, on our sites, with our apps, by using their voice or whatever comes next, there is just one Walmart as far as our customers are concerned. When they shop with us, they expect it to be an easy and seamless experience.

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Changing our corporate name to Walmart is a way of better reflecting our company’s path to win the future of retail. It’s also a bit about returning to the company’s roots. You might be surprised to learn that, when Sam Walton opened the first store in 1962, the name on the front of the building was simply, “Walmart.” A few years later, we incorporated as Wal-Mart, Inc., and amended the name to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., when we went public in 1970.

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For our associates, while our new legal name removes the dash, we’re not planning to change the Walmart cheer. Getting our blood flowing and choosing not to take ourselves too seriously is still part of our culture. It’s important to have some fun at work, so for our associates in countries where your cheer calls for the squiggly, keep doing it!

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We began with great stores and steadily expanded to include clubs and distribution centers. In 1991, we became a global retailer when we opened our first international location in Mexico City, and we launched Walmart.com in 2000. Today we operate under almost 60 different banners around the world, including eCommerce sites, and have more than 11,600 stores and clubs in 28 countries.

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Now, we are focused on strengthening stores and clubs around the world to make sure customers continue to have a great experience every time they walk through the door. At the same time, we’re also building our eCommerce and digital capabilities, and we’re putting them together in a way that makes every day easier for busy families. Sam Walton said, “To succeed in this world, you have to change all the time.” He wouldn’t have known that customers in the future would shop on their smart phones or with their voices, but he did know that retail would continue to change. He taught us that, and that for a company to succeed, it has to be agile and innovative.

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Even though our corporate name has changed, what won’t change is that Walmart will be there for customers—saving them money and time and helping make every day just a little bit easier.

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This post originally appeared at Walmart's corporate blog, Walmart Today on December 6, 2017.

After a ball game in the summer of 1932, young “Sammy” Walton and a group of boys wanted to go for a post-game swim. One of the local team boosters gave the boys a lift from Shelbina, Missouri, just a few miles east, to the North Fork of the Salt River. After crossing railroad tracks and farmland, the boys found the old water stop for steam locomotives that marked the north bank of their favorite swimming hole.

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Rather than taking the time to change into swim trunks, one of the boys, Kyle Peterson, decided to forgo clothing altogether. Upon hearing that a carful of girls had pulled up, Kyle, in a panic, urgently asked his younger brother Donald to retrieve his trunks from the shore. As he swam back with the trunks, Donald reached a part of the river where the current was strong – too strong. The man who had driven the boys out to the river jumped in to pull Donald out, but the panicked child pulled the man under with him instead.

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Actual location - decades later - where Sam Walton jumped in to save Donald Peterson. Revisited by The Walmart Museum Oral History Team.

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Sam Walton, then just 14 years old, used training he had learned as the first Eagle Scout in Shelby County, grabbed Donald Peterson from behind and pulled him to safety. On shore, Donald was blue and unconscious; Sam knew he had to act fast. Administering CPR, Sam’s quick thinking saved Donald, who went on to live to the ripe old age of 86, a popular member and leader of his community of DeKalb, Illinois.

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What makes this story so important to the Walmart culture is in how the incident has become part of Walmart’s “DNA”. Sam, at such a young age, demonstrated exceptional leadership and the willingness to jump in and help when help was needed most. That trait has manifested itself in Walmart so many ways over so many years.

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Here at 105NorthMain, we’ll bring more stories to our digital museum that demonstrate the leadership and willingness to “jump in” that Sam Walton imparted to his company for decades to come.

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How Smiley Changed the Face of Savings

As a store manager at the Whiteville, North Carolina, Walmart store in 1989, Henry Jordan observed the relationship between people greeters and the children that came in with their parents.

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Knowing that these children might be the key to bringing their parents to Walmart over competitors, Jordan and his wife designed the “Wal-Mart Lil Shopper” Smiley sticker and had a few hundred of the stickers printed.

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Sam Walton Instantly \"Got It\"

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The stickers were so successful that several nearby Walmart stores began giving out the stickers. Henry presented the idea to Sam Walton in a letter, and within a few months, the program was introduced to the entire company with the Smiley sticker as a standard order item.

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Smiley the TV Star

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In 1996, under Chief Marketing Officer Paul Higham’s leadership, Smiley was integrated into Walmart’s advertising as a champion of Rollbacks. According to a February 1999 Walmart World article: “Rollbacks are a fantastic tool to complement our Every Day Low Prices pricing program. Buyers work with our vendors on a consistent basis to get better prices for our customers. When we get a great value, we do our best to pass it on to our customers.\"

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After a few years, Smiley began to appear in different costumes for different campaigns, including a cowboy, Zorro, Sunshine Smiley, Robin Hood, a construction worker, and an international spy.

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Retirement Didn’t Agree With Smiley

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Smiley first retired in 2006, but his passion for recognizing associates for great customer service and lowering prices never faded. He longed to return. Now, he’s back as part of the new “Happy to Help” program, recognizing associates for demonstrating exceptional customer service.

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Welcome Back, Old Friend

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Walmart U.S. Chief Operating Officer Judith McKenna announced the triumphant return of Smiley during 2016’s Shareholder’s week with Chief Marketing Officer Tony Rogers explaining why it was time for Smiley to roll back into Walmart.

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“Back in the day, Smiley was the face of rollbacks, said Rogers. “Today, he represents all low prices. Whether we’re talking about great Every Day Low Prices or a new rollback, Smiley’s our man.

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Early in Smiley’s career, he represented Rollbacks in all media – in-store, TV, print, and online. Pictured here are some of Smiley’s work in early in-store signage.

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What Exactly Is a Rollback? It’s when Walmart lowers a price on an item as part of its mission to save people money so they can live better. A Rollback tag highlights such a reduction in price and lets the customers know exactly how much they’re saving.